Thursday, October 2, 2014

We all love cameras at our house. The youngest is no exception. Fortunately Fisher Price made a few cameras between the 1960s-1990s so we're all set. :) We recently added another camera to our growing collection, the Changeable Picture Disc Camera #112. We have both the original and the reproduction camera, but more on that in a bit.

The Changeable Picture Disc Camera #112 was made between 1968-1971. It is made out of plastic with a yellow vinyl carrying strap.

The camera came with five picture discs. The discs store in a handy compartment in the back of the camera. Four fit in the back and the fifth stays in the camera. The discs have eight pictures on each and are titled:

The discs fit one at a time in a slot on the top of the camera. If you don't put it in correctly the photos will feed backwards, which makes some of these stories more interesting. ;) The disc pops out when you turn the "lens" on the front of the camera. This is a wonderful feature when a small child is using it, as they're less likely to lose discs while carting it around.

The top of the camera has a flash cube with N, W, S and E on each side in colorful lithographs. The flash cube moves around each time the shutter is depressed. Pushing the shutter button is also how the photos advance on the discs.

The back of the camera has a lithograph of a little boy using the camera with his happy dog looking up at it. The large hole is the viewfinder for the picture discs. The smaller hole shows through the camera and the view changes (color only) when you turn the color viewer disk (on top). The color options are blue, yellow, red or clear.

Now to show you the reproduction. I bought my camera at World Market but I've seen them on Amazon, at Toys R Us and Target for around $20.00.

The original and reproduction are very similar. They are the same height and length and very close in width (repro is a bit thinner). Note that the reproduction is on the right in my photo.

The most obvious difference is the strap. The original has a vinyl strap while the reproduction has a fabric strap.

Another difference is the picture discs. The original has 5 discs while the reproduction only has 3. Interesting fact, although they fit in each other (old discs in new camera) they do not forward correctly, they both show split images in each). The reproduction discs are titled:

ANIMALS and their BABIES

JACK and JILL, HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE, HUMPTY DUMPTY, LITTLE BOY BLUE

GOLDILOCKS and the 3 BEARS

The images on the reproduction discs are the same as the originals. It is remarkable how the colors are different however. My originals have a lovely aged pink/red tint. I can't help but wonder if they too had vivid colors back in the 1960's.

The storage compartment in the reproduction camera can hold all 3 discs, so it is unnecessary to keep one in the viewer.

The back of the camera is also very similar. The lithographs are the same except the original version has the toy number, the older Fisher Price logo and a few details. This is a great way to tell if the camera you see is a reproduction or the original.

One last small difference are the screws. The original camera uses flat screws and the reproduction uses philips screws. The reproduction also has the screws farther into the case as shown in the photo above. So now you have some clues to decipher a classic toy from the reproduction!

My 3 year old can't get enough of this camera. She carries it all around and loves switching out the picture discs. What I love about this toy is that my daughter can figure it out and play with it herself. She is so proud too and is constantly trying to make us look in and see the pictures she sees. :)